Four thousand one hundred.
Three thousand eight hundred.
Descriptions:
SPECIALIZED NUTRITION SUPPORT
ADOLESCENT WELLNESS PLAN
THERAPEUTIC MEAL MANAGEMENT
Andre felt cold.
“Who requested these?”
The portal showed authorized household representative:
Vanessa Carter.
Andre stared.
“How did she get authorization?”
David leaned closer.
“Looks like a limited caregiver form.”
Andre opened it.
His signature appeared.
Another forgery.
David’s expression hardened.
“How much?”
They calculated.
Over eight months:
Thirty-one thousand six hundred dollars.
Andre whispered:
“She was charging Nia’s trust to starve her.”
David said nothing.
They searched the corporate registry.
Carter Family Nutrition Services had been created eleven months earlier.
Registered manager:
Melissa Grant.
Vanessa’s cousin.
Andre leaned back.
For a few seconds he could not speak.
David said:
“This is larger than a family dispute.”
“I know.”
“You need forensic accounting.”
“Do it.”
“Andre.”
“What?”
“You need to understand where this may go.”
“I do.”
“Forgery.”
“Potential trust fraud.”
“False medical representations.”
“Child welfare.”
“Possibly conspiracy depending on the cousin’s knowledge.”
Andre closed his eyes.
David continued.
“If you report financial evidence, you won’t control what prosecutors do.”
“I know.”
“Caleb and Ava may watch their mother face charges.”
Andre opened his eyes.
“Nia watched her own dinner get taken away.”
David nodded.
That was the answer.
The school was next.
Andre and David met with the principal Monday morning.
The cafeteria director joined.
Then the school counselor.
The dietary restriction form had arrived electronically from Vanessa’s email account with Andre’s scanned signature.
Staff believed it was legitimate.
But another record existed.
Three weeks earlier Nia asked the counselor whether “parents could send children away for refusing diets.”
The counselor asked if Nia felt unsafe.
Nia denied it.
Why?
Because Vanessa had told her that any accusation would trigger psychiatric placement.
The counselor documented the conversation but never contacted Andre because Nia insisted there was no abuse.
Andre did not blame her.
He wanted to.
Blame would have been easier.
Instead he recognized again how carefully Vanessa had constructed the situation.
Not enough obvious cruelty in public.
Just enough fear in private.
The principal removed all restrictions immediately.
Andre gave written instructions that no future dietary or medical change would be accepted without direct confirmation from him and Nia’s pediatrician.
Then he apologized to his daughter.
Again.
Nia finally became frustrated.
“Dad, stop.”
Andre looked at her.
They sat in his car outside the school.
“You’ve said sorry like fifty times.”
“Probably more.”
“It’s making me feel worse.”
He stopped.
“Why?”
“Because then I have to tell you it’s okay.”
Andre stared.
Nia looked embarrassed.
“It’s not okay.”
He understood.
“Then don’t tell me.”
“What?”
“You don’t have to make me feel better about my guilt.”
Nia looked surprised.
Andre continued.
“I’m sorry.”